Lasik Eye Surgery Essay -- Eyesight Vision Corrective Surgery

Putting a Close Eye on LASIK Laser-Assisted In situ Keratomileusis (LASIK) is a surgical operation intended to allow an individual to live independent of glasses or contacts. Since 1995, when the Food and Drug Administration approved the type of laser used in corrective eye surgery, optometrists have developed a number of different procedures to clear up foggy or blurry vision in one's eye. In 1998, the Lasik surgery became the most common type of surgery, and remains the number one refractive eye surgery today. The surgery itself lasts no longer than 15 minutes per eye, and begins with the doctor placing a number of eye numbing drops into the patient's eyes to eliminate any possibilities of pain during the procedure. The first step in the procedure involves the cutting of a flap in the cornea by a computer programmed device called a microkeratome. By cutting the flap, the surgeon is able to use tiny tweezers-like instruments to unpeel the sliced flap. With the flap peeled back from the cornea the laser is used to remove small pieces of the inner part of the cornea, but the laser has only a specified wavelength which does not allow it to pass through the cornea to any other portion of the eye. The flap is then repositioned without stitches and is secure after seconds of drying ("Lasik Eye Surgery"). Doctors claim that the surgery is so popular because the patient's vision is restored rapidly and there is little to no post- surgery pain. But while the number of patients receiving the procedure rises, so do the number of complications and patient complaints. Patients whose vision was successfully restored cite that the success of the operation is dependent on the experience and skill of the surgeon, but many cases can be ... ...ped to assist with this problem, but currently over fifty percent of patients will experience poor night vision in the first month following their surgery, and of those, half will experience permanent night vision problems. http://archives.thedaily.washington.edu/2001/010901/N5.Lasereyesu.html http://www.kathygriffin.net/lasik.php Works Cited Elliott, Louise. " Laser eye surgery may damage night-vision long term." The Canadian Press. 17 July 2000. Canoe Network. 1 Nov. 2005. . "Lasik Surgery." Wake Forest University Eye Center. 23 August 2005. Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. 1 Nov. 2005. http://www1.wfubmc.edu/lasik/LASIK+Eye+Surgery/. "Lasik Eye Surgery." Center for Devices and Radiological Health. 9 March 2005. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 1 Nov. 2005. http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/LASIK/risks.htm.